


Robert And Liv Down In The Woolpack Cellar

by theprincessed



Series: Village Talk [16]
Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Birthday Fluff, Canon Compliant, Conversations, Episode Related, Family Fluff, Gap Filler, Gen, Heart-to-Heart, M/M, Surprises
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-09
Updated: 2017-01-09
Packaged: 2018-09-16 00:39:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9266078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theprincessed/pseuds/theprincessed
Summary: What happens with Robert as he sets up Aaron’s Vegas-themed birthday surprise in the backroom of the Woolpack…(Set during 5th January 2017 episode)





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hiya! Totally didn’t realise that I haven’t actually done one with these two yet and thought it criminal (although fun lol) that I’d got to Sam _before_ Liv! So I decided to combine this format with a silly little gap filler. I wanted them to have a heart-to-heart and they weren’t really playing ball, so this is what I managed and I tagged it like that anyway lol. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy x

Around the time that Robert has Chas help him get rid of Aaron for an hour with a few evening errands to run, Liv comes home from school. She dumps her bag on the backroom sofa and sheds her coat across the back of it like a hurricane in pigtailed plaits has swanned in and that just won't do.

“Don't put that there,” Robert says flatly without looking at her, a piece of paper in his hand and his burgundy shirt untucked.

“Oh what – whoa, what's happened?” she asks, her voice lifting in surprise as she abandons her protest.

Finally Robert looks up and blinks as if he's just realised she's still in the room. Usually, she goes straight upstairs to change out of her uniform the second she gets home. She's halfway through the open doorway, paused. He is wide eyed. “Hm?”

“You look, I dunno, on edge or somethin',” she shrugs.

It seems like she doesn't want to get involved, but Robert's face lights up with an idea. “Ah. Well, I'm surprising Aaron tonight for his birthday and _you_ can help me!”

“Do I have to?”

Robert can't stop his face from falling. “No, but - ”

“Alright, fine,” she huffs a little too quickly and he grins. What's with his little family being so agreeable today? He watches her mouth twist into a smirk. “But it'll cost ya,”

He rolls his eyes, already reaching into his jeans pocket. “When doesn't it.” He pulls out £20 and Liv raises her eyebrow, angling for more. Silently, he ups it to £30 and holds it out to her in temptation. “Final offer, take it or leave it.” She runs around the sofa and snatches the notes from his hand before she makes to leave the room. “Er, where're you goin' now? I need you to come with me to the cellar! Liv!”

“Keep your hair on, will ya?!” she exclaims crossly, poking her head back round the door. “I'm gonna get changed...unless you wanna wash my uniform for me? It's probably really rank down there,”

Robert pulls a face and Liv rolls her eyes, muttering on her way upstairs that there's something wrong with him. He has to agree.

He's _nervous_.

Now that he has all the 'ingredients' to the plan, it has to go off without a hitch. Nothing can spoil what he's hoping is going to be a special night, a special birthday, for the man he loves.

He's staring at his checklist again when Liv appears and it's the sight of her dressed in jeans and a t-shirt that triggers his memory. “I've got something for you actually, but it can wait until later.” He can see she's intrigued and smiles, pushing her towards the other door to lead them into the pub. “Come on, there's some things I gotta bring up here.”

There's not a lot but barrels of alcohol and pub paraphernalia down in the Woolpack cellar, so it's easy to spot the boxes that look quite out of place. Liv makes a beeline for them, but instead of helpfully picking one up, she half pulls out what looks to be a star fixed with lightbulbs and frowns quizzically. “What is all this stuff?”

“You'll see,” Robert smirks, shoving the list into his back pocket.

“Let's hope Aaron likes it then,”

Robert gathers one box in his arms and nods at Liv to do the same to one of those which looks to be crammed with bright red, shiny streamers. He also has flowers – roses for the ultimate in romance – and a few snacks in the backroom and he'll have to move the furniture around a bit to fit the roulette wheel in, but it's all going to be worth it to see the smile on Aaron's face. 

The box against his chest feels a little heavier than he remembers and he takes two steps before he feels the bottom of the cardboard give way and the contents go spilling everywhere onto the dirty concrete floor. His breathing hitches and he tries not to panic at the first sign of trouble. He hears Liv gasp behind him and he glances at her sharply.

“D'ya think he will?” he asks quietly, trying not to take this mishap as a bad omen.

Liv stops a rolling red chip gently with the toe of her trainer as her mouth twists. “Sure.”

She doesn't sound entirely convinced.

Eventually, they move the boxes from the cellar to the backroom in surprisingly few trips. Liv upends one of them all over the sofa and gives the now empty box to Robert with a grin, pleased with herself for her problem solving and shooing him down again to retrieve the last of the scattered contents. As Chas does her shift at the bar and also keeps a lookout for an unexpected, early arrival from Aaron, Robert and Liv work together to transform the room into Emmerdale's very own mini casino. It's not quite an harmonious task, with Liv becoming increasingly grumpy as Robert fretfully bosses her about - “Everything has to look perfect, Liv! And we're running out of time!” - and he has to huff and puff shoving things into corners they don't belong so that his idea looks half decent.

When the room is sorted, Robert wipes the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve and pulls out a square black bag with rope handles from one of the kitchen chairs and gives it to Liv. “Right, I'll grab a quick shower and you change into that.”

She glances down at the bag pressed to her chest but not inside. It was somewhat expensive to buy, but Robert goes all in when he wants something, no half-measures, and Aaron happy with his surprise is the goal. Including Liv anywhere he could was also on his mind from when he first approached Rebecca with his idea and now that the room is complete, he has to admit that he's glad she agreed to help, with a little typical persuasion. She seems suddenly quiet though and Robert awkwardly nudges her shoulder with his hand.

“Hey, talk to me.”

She shrugs, pauses then raises her head to look at him. Her blue eyes are shining brightly. “I thought you'd forgotten Aaron's birthday or didn't care to give him a good one. Guess I'm just realisin' that with all this,” she gestures to the room at large, “that the truth is the opposite. You really wanted to do this?”

“Well, no one forced me,” he laughs but sobers when she doesn't. “Of course I wanted this, Liv. In fact, _all_ I want is for Aaron to be happy, to feel like he's loved and that he's enough.”

“Must've cost ya,” she mumbles.

“He's worth it, your brother.” he nods,”What I wasn't expecting was to be _another_ £30 quid out of pocket,”

“You know me,” she grins, cheeky.

“Yeah, I do.” he says, his voice naturally softening. He watches her pick at the bag's handles with her thumbnail for a moment then clears his throat, breaking the moment between them. “Off you go. I'll come get you when I'm ready and the coast is clear.”

With one last look around the room and another collision with the heart balloons he'd placed in the corner by the door, Robert quickly tells Chas that the surprise is ready. She glances at his outfit of wrinkled shirt and dirt on the knees of his jeans. There's a piece of sellotape stuck to his collar and his hair is fluffy from the amount of stressed times he's gripped it in his fingers.

“I hope you're gonna tart yourself up a bit before our Aaron sees ya,” she says, eyes wide.

“What d'ya take me for?” he snorts, “Trust me, everything is going to be perfect. _Everything_.”

Upstairs, he enters his and Aaron's bedroom to the sound of Liv clattering about next door. He'd be a bit worried about how putting on a beautiful dress and fancy gloves requires making so much noise if he wasn't so instantly distracted by his own outfit sat on a hanger pinned to the slightly open door of their wardrobe. The sight of it makes him smile and the excitement start building again. All he has to be concerned with now is a shower and making himself look as dashing as possible.

Five minutes later where he really wished he had the time to luxuriate under the water, Robert rushes past with a towel held around his waist and his body half dried. He knocks quickly on Liv's door. “Liv? Hurry up! I'm gonna text Aaron soon to come back!”

“Alright, alright!” she answers crossly, muffled through the door.

With a smile and a nod, he leaves her be for now and sets about putting on his brand new three piece suit. Everything from the shirt to the waistcoat to his damn shiny shoes fits him like a glove because Aaron deserves the best from him, always, but particularly on his birthday. In hindsight, he has some inkling how terrible his last one was and desperately wants Aaron and them together to start making some better, happier memories.

He puts the finishing touches to his hair and fixes the knot of his tie to his throat before he picks up his suit jacket and hesitates. He feels like he's about to begin sweating again and carefully places the jacket back onto the hanger. He tugs his waistcoat down and looks at himself in the thin, long mirror that's luckily on the inside of the wardrobe door so he can make sure he has nothing in his teeth and his flies aren't undone. Figuring he can get away with not wearing the jacket because they won't be leaving the pub and it'll give Aaron less to peel off him later, Robert takes a deep breath in then goes back to Liv's room. He almost feels like he's proposing again, only this time instead of marriage it's a once in a lifetime holiday. It's not ordinary either, first class seats, a limo and tickets to a show burning a hole in his pocket but one that would've been much bigger without Rebecca's contact.

“Liv!” he hisses, because things have gone quiet in there and he can't hear her stomping around downstairs (not that there's much room to move anymore). “If you're not downstairs when Aaron gets here then I'll – well, I don't know what I'll do, but it'll be something! Final warning. And wear the gloves!”

“Stop tellin' me what to do!” she whines, “I get it. Just go meet Aaron.”

Reluctantly, he goes downstairs and smoothly walks around to the front of the bar. “Can I get a bottle of your best champagne, Chas, and two glasses, please?”

Chas wolf-whistles. “Well hello, Mr Office Totty! Nice to see ya again,”

“Can we not start - “

“I'm only teasin' ya, love!” she laughs at him groaning, “You look very smart. I hope whatever you've done to my backroom is worth it,”

She turns away to pop the cork on the champagne and get the two glasses he asked for when Rebecca breezes into the pub with a rolled up magazine in her hand. Her eyes light up when she sees Robert. “All set? Nice...waistcoat.”

The way she says it has him re-thinking. “It's not too much, is it?”

“You know Aaron.” she shrugs, taking a seat by the bar but far enough away that she won't be intruding when Aaron finally shows up. Robert has already text him and received no reply but he's trying not to dwell on it. “I'm sure he'll love his surprise, honestly,”

“I hope you're right.” he mumbles, eyeing the nearest chair as he feels his knees go a little weak. “Sorry, I've gotta just - ”

He parks himself gratefully into the chair, checks his phone one last time to no new messages and reasons Aaron can't be much longer. The waiting is killing him slowly but at least he can pop up ready when he sees the familiar, slightly curly haired (it's a new development) head of his gorgeous fiancé. 

As predicted, his insides do a full joyous somersault and he leaps up when Aaron does arrive and he puts down a bag from _David's_ at his feet. Chas, pouring the champagne steadily, clears her throat to alert Robert to his presence.

It's time.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, lovelies x
> 
> I'm on tumblr at [theprincessed](http://www.theprincessed.tumblr.com). Come chat to me. :)


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